The Laws of Gravity
by when love was kind
Summary: In which the laws of gravity apply to everyone. Including Alya and Nino. (Alya/Nino Magic!AU three-shot)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey everyone! It's been a while. I hope you enjoy!**

 _(Magic AU)_

"He's not even that cute."

"I know, I know, but everyone loves him. I have yet to meet a girl who isn't waiting in line for a chance to go on a date with him."

"Does Myléne not count?" A shuffle of papers and clothing, the back room of the library is too small for two seniors with wiry frames and long arms. A hit to the shin here—Sorry, Nino—a jab to the elbow there—Ooh, that looks like it's gonna bruise. Do you think you'll bleed?—yes, the back room wasn't a good place to get dressed for job interviews.

"She's not within the immediate Adrien friend group." A pause. The sound of a zipper getting stuck half way up a black dress, and the string of curses typical of the realization.

"Zip me up," Alya hisses in between complaints. Nino does as asked, fingers fidgeting with the silver clasp before pinching the black fabric together to zip it up all the way. "I was talking about the girls in his immediate vicinity."

"That can't be true, the crazy lady wouldn't like him."

"Marinette? Hah! She's absolutely head over heels for that boy."

He deflates at that revelation. Alya tsks and turns to face the boy, she fixes his tie and ruffles his dark hair.

"Tuck in your shirt."

Nino rolls his eyes and does as suggested. His dark eyes run a quick diagnostics scan, Alya does a little half turn in her heels before offering an inquiring glance.

"Do I look alright?"

"Ooh girl, you're going to kill 'em."

"That sounds awful coming from you." Alya grants him a smile, and dusts off his shoulders, his blazer now pristine and without any signs of lint. "You look good, too. We're definitely getting these jobs."

With another laugh, they trip over each other, an awkward tangle of limbs and starched suits, and exit the library back room. They go to their respective job interviews, not before getting a slightly incredulous eyebrow raise from Caline Bustier the head library aide.

"Good luck, Nino!"

"I can probably curse myself with good luck, would that be a good idea?"

"No, it would not."

* * *

They don't get the jobs. Alya's overqualified, and Nino's underqualified, and they're back at square one, kicking their legs over the edge of the school roof. Their dark hair provides no protection against the bright sun, Nino's been blowing bubbles for the last ten minutes, under the impression that Alya had an umbrella and would eventually pull it out. She does not have an umbrella. If she did, it would've been out by now.

None of these concerns are ever voiced, both parties are still nursing their bruised egos.

"I hate autumn." Alya says, peeling off her sweatshirt with the school's logo on the back. She throws it to the side, on top of her brown messenger bag, and leans forward, elbows on her knees, chin on her hands, eyes narrowed and focused on something far, far away in the Parisian cityscape.

"It's not a great season," Nino admits, with a shrug, noncommittal and nonchalant.

Alya snorts. Nino laughs one of his characteristic laughs. They watch the sun come and go, another idle school day going on without them.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you guys for favoriting/following! Hope you enjoy this next chapter.**

"He's still not that cute, I'm trying to wrap my head around him." Alya purses her lips, humming something discordant, brown eyes flickering with annoyance. Irritation. Nino knew her tells awfully well, she is an open book. The girl's preoccupation with the blonde boy was fascinating, but had a very simple answer.

She is obviously under a love spell.

"He probably cast a spell on you, and now he's all you can think about. Probably so Marinette will break up with that Chat Noir kid."

"He's shit at magic, though."

"And how do you know that?"

"Don't question it."

Silence.

Nino raises his arms up, bends backwards until he hears a telltale pop from his back. He gives his orange haired, glassed companion a closed eyed grin, airy chuckles slipping from his lips.

"I am, I am! But that's not why we're here today—but if we're going to be analyzing my wide selection of incredible jokes and puns, I've got a reaaaaaaal good one!—we're here to organize books. And talk about Adrien, probably."

Alya lets out a year-long sigh. Nino reminds her that sighing will only make you older, and that she was going to give Chloé a run for her money.

He narrowly misses the anthology of poetry she throws at him.

"Alya, you suck." Nino picks up the book and waves it around a bit. "Now this is farther away than it needs to be from its shelf."

"It's not like Caline cares, we do most of her job for her." Alya huffs, taking the book, and gliding down the hallways, until she reaches the literature club's book shelf. She shoves the book into one of the empty spaces, and looks at her handiwork with a smug satisfaction.

"Contrary to popular belief, I can still hear you from the reference desk." The orange-haired library aide's steely voice floats from the front of the library to the desolate corner where Nino and Alya were. Shivers shot down their spines, and they decided maybe it was time to get some work done.

* * *

"Nino!"

Oh dear.

The boy bids his farewells, Kim gives him a questioning look and a half-said sentence, before the dark haired spells student runs down the hall, lockers opening with his every step, papers and books flying from owner's hands and onto the tile floor, leaving a mess of an obstacle course for the screaming girl. She shouts again, pushing her glasses up before running after him. In her wake, students and teachers alike whisper.

"Isn't that Alya?"

"What's up with her?"

"Rumor has it she's dating that weird kid."

"No way, she's totally dating Adrien!"

"Adrien? I thought he had a thing with Chat?"

"No, you're definitely thinking last semester."

"I swear to god, when I find you…" Alya's threat falls on deaf ears, she skulks past empty classrooms and ignores wide-eyed lowerclassmen, carefully sidestepping the freshmen with their backpacks slung on one shoulder, their messy and unkept uniforms, and their gossipy snickers, near the school entrance, hungrily eyeing the school exit.

"Alya?"

Great.

"Hello, Adrien."

There were only two people in the entire school that didn't abide by uniform regulations. Her, in her calf-length cloak, and Adrien. It was something one expected of the school's MVP, today he wore a blue plaid flannel under the school blazer, rolled up to his elbows. She tries to play it cool, sure, it's not like she just sprinted down a hallway, or anything. Nope. She was a master spell-caster in the making. This was not going to be a setback.

"Is something wrong? I heard you shouting down the hall, and came out to see what was up."

She glances at the glass door emblazoned with the school logo. Then she looks back at Adrien. Then back at the door.

She really needs to get going.

"Everything's fine, kitty." She slips a smirk, anything to get him off her case. He runs a hand through his blonde hair, and smiles back.

"Listen, I gotta go Adrien, thank you, um. For checking up on me. That's really nice of you." She turns to go.

"Um, listen, Alya. sorry, uh…if this is coming off as too forceful."

REALLY. WE DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR THIS.

A blush settles on his cheeks, and Alya, despite her best intentions, feels her heart beat faster and faster until it's making a racket in her chest.

"But do you, uh, want to hang out? Sometime?"

"Like a d-date?" Alya says the words before she can stop herself. It breaks the spell, she's blushing, he's sputtering, and good grief, Nino's probably collecting roadkill by now!

"Yeah. Like a…like a date."

Alya finds herself rolling her eyes. "You know, I'm sure Marinette would say yes if you just ask her stop sulking in the corner."

He looks surprised. "Really, Adrien, she's crazy for you."

That's enough for him, his face is the picture of absolute joy. Oh lord. Oh lord.

"I really. Need to get going." Alya says. She runs. He waves goodbye.


	3. Chapter 3

"Have you guys seen Nino?"

Sabrina and Chloe close their lockers and look at the brown-haired girl, huffing and puffing and caving in on herself. Sabrina tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, while Chloe fishes a silk scarf out of her purse.

"No." The blonde lilts, a little too snippy for Alya's taste. Sabrina offers an apologetic look.

"Sorry Alya, I haven't seen him…he wasn't in homeroom today. Oh!" The girl's eyes light up, and she immediately shuffles through her satchel, taking out three pieces of paper. "These are for him, they're senior event stuff. our teacher passed them out today." Sabrina blushes, her face burning bright red. "Oh, sorry! Um, I mean, I'm giving them to you because you're with him all the time, and you guys have library together so, um, ah…I didn't mean to be pushy or anything!"

Alya laughs, and takes the papers. "Don't worry about it, Sabrina. Thank you. I'll try to get these to him."

Chloé sniffs, and gives the girl a curt nod before walking away. Sabrina follows her.

The hallway was empty, cold. Without the usual mess of students running to and fro to their classes, Alya feels awkward standing in the middle of the black and white tiled sea. Winter break was upon the students, and things were dark and dreary outside the glass doors.

And she can't find Nino. Ever since their dumb argument a week earlier, he suddenly stopped coming to their usual spots. His classmates were unsure of his whereabouts.

Everything was coming up dead roses.

Awesome.

Alya decides she should just head home. She walks past Myléne and Ivan, making obnoxiously adorable googly eyes at each other and whispering sweet nothings underneath the pretense of chemistry formulas. She walks past Adrien, who's making his way towards her.

She picks up her pace and pantomimes a cellphone, I'll call you later, she says and waves him off.

It takes her a couple of hours, two cups of coffee, and a frantic sprint across the river that separated the us from the them, to find Nino. He was at the lake's edge, toes skimming the surface, back to the ground, head tilted skywards.

"Nino, where have you been?"

"Oh, hi there, Alya!" He does not look at her.

"Don't 'oh hi' me!" Alya falls, staining her white knee socks green with grass and dirt, hands breaking her fall. "I've been worried sick. You don't call, you don't answer my calls, what the hell happened to you?"

Nino shrugs.

"I just didn't feel like seeing you." He struggles to find the right wording, it comes out a lot harsher than he wanted it to. His fingers splay out on his stomach. "I mean, I wanted to see you, but I felt like you didn't want to see me."

"Nino, you're my best friend."

"I mean, it's not just because of our dumb argument. I don't know why, but ever since you started talking about Adrien, I felt this awful thing in the pit of my stomach. I'm not sure why, but it made me…upset? I think? I just knew that if i saw you, I would feel worse. I mean, I'm all for pain and blood and guts, but this just didn't feel good."

His voice takes on a more dreamy quality, he describes something Alya knows only too well.

Jealousy.

She lays down next to him, her brown hair fans out and makes a halo around them. She looks up.

The sky is periwinkle, dusted by clouds that threatened rain and thunder for the next few nights. The air tastes like winter, tastes like ice and melancholy.

"But it didn't feel any better when I didn't see you. Haha, what a joke."

She turns to face him, tilts her head ever so slightly, trying to catch his eye, looking for something. Anything.

"It's awful, not knowing what you're feeling, Alya." He says, laughing. "It's absolutely awful."

His eyes glisten.

She doesn't know the feeling. She cannot sympathize. She is known for being able to micromanage every emotion she felt, she could pinpoint the exact stimuli and response.

It was all about cause and effect and…

"I think you're in love with me."

A reaction.

"Maybe."

Sadness does not suit Nino.

His eyes close. She takes his hand.

The silence consumes them.

* * *

The library is quiet, uncharacteristic for the first day of winter finals. Caline is shelving books, her glasses fog up with every breath she exhales into the folds of her knit scarf.

She misses her two unofficial aides. After the holidays, they sent in their transfer requests. Nino ended up relocating to the history department, and Alya finally got the internship at the capitol building.

Things were looking up for them.

Caline pushes her silver frames up on her nose, and looks towards the east, out the bay windows and towards the main school building.

The sun burns the world gold.

 _{a/n: Whew, I can finally check this story off. Thank you all for reading, I had a blast writing it. Remember to review and check out my other Miraculous story, as well as staying tuned for more! love, em}_


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